Silk Road

The Silk Road conjures exotic goods -- ivory, wine, spices and gold -- transported along a network of trade routes between Asia and Europe. Mir Corp. hosts a 20-day trip along one route, from Tashkent in Uzbekistan to Tehran, where hand-made carpets are still sold along the way. "Once Forbidden Lands of Central Asia & Iran" starts in the Uzbeki capital of Tashkent, continues on to Turkmenistan's capital city of Ashgabat and visits Tehran, Persepolis and Isfahan as well as other parts of Iran.

As a child growing up in Kaifeng in central China, Jin Jin was constantly reminded of her unusual heritage. "We weren't supposed to eat pork, our graves were different from other people, and we had a mezuza on our door," said the 25-year-old, referring to the prayer scroll affixed to doorways of Jewish homes. Her father told her of a faraway land called Israel that he said was her rightful home, she recalls. But "we didn't know anything about daily prayers or the weekly reading of the Torah.

The Taklimakan Desert in northern China is one of the largest in the world -- vast and inhospitable, and its howling winds were once thought the cries of ghosts and demons. Yet since ancient times, travelers have braved its edges, some engaging in the East-West trade that eventually earned the routes a fabled name, the Silk Road. This weekend, the Bowers Museum opens an exhibition featuring about 150 artifacts from the area, "Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies of China" (through July 25)

The Silk Road conjures exotic goods -- ivory, wine, spices and gold -- transported along a network of trade routes between Asia and Europe. Mir Corp. hosts a 20-day trip along one route, from Tashkent in Uzbekistan to Tehran, where hand-made carpets are still sold along the way. "Once Forbidden Lands of Central Asia & Iran" starts in the Uzbeki capital of Tashkent, continues on to Turkmenistan's capital city of Ashgabat and visits Tehran, Persepolis and Isfahan as well as other parts of Iran.

HIKING Workshop Follow @renelynch    rene.lynch@latimes.com Six-hour field class offers beginners tips on using maps and compasses. When, where: 9 a.m. Sunday at the REI store in Santa Monica, 402 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Admission, info: $60 members, $80 for non-members. (310) 458-4370, http://www.rei.com/class/162/market/162 SILK ROAD Presentation Yue Chi will show photos and discuss "Drive the Silk Road: From Istanbul to Beijing.

On display for the first time outside of Asia, Secrets of the Silk Road features more than 150 objects, including mummies and other archaeological items found buried in the parched sands of the Tarim Basin in the far Western Xinjiang Uygur region of China. Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Through July 25. Weekends adult $20, children $18; weekdays adult $18, children $16. (714) 567-3600. www.bowers.org.

Yo-Yo Ma's musical adventures have taken him across the length and breadth of global culture. His Silk Road ensemble -- formed to explore the music of the trade routes that historically brought goods, religions and ideas in both directions between East and West -- has been one of his most intriguing and successful accomplishments since its first recording in 2002.

At the turn of the century, a wandering Taoist monk discovered in one of the ancient excavated caves near Dun Huang, a military outpost on the northwestern frontier of China, 40,000 manuscripts that had been hidden behind a brick wall nine centuries earlier. No one has solved the mystery of why these documents, an archeological treasure trove without parallel, were secreted, but in 1959 prize-winning Japanese novelist Yasushi Inoue wrote a novel proposing a solution.

There are many things that secular entertainment can have in common with sacred ritual: a sense of high formality, a special language and location, and the comforting feeling of having order imposed on chaos. Balanchine used to say that the theater is like a church. Still, he never confused Lincoln Center with St. Patrick's Cathedral. In the world of Hirokazu Kosaka, however, this is not an inconceivable juxtaposition.

A startled peasant on his rickety, horse-drawn cart stared in disbelief as several dozen high-powered motorcycles sped by. This was something he'd never seen before, and he was not sure what to make of it. With a roar, the shiny, high-tech world of Western prosperity had suddenly crossed paths with the rough, homespun simplicity of the Ukraine. It was like that throughout the first leg of our motorcycle odyssey across the southern Soviet Union. Present met past. New met old. West met East.

After seven years in the California governor's mansion, Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to his old day job: acting. Schwarzenegger wrote on Twitter that he's ready to start considering film roles again. The former governor tweeted Thursday night: "Exciting news. My friends at CAA have been asking me for 7 years when they can take offers seriously. Gave them the green light today. " Schwarzenegger's personal aide, Daniel Ketchell, confirmed the tweet Friday. Before leading the state from 2003 to 2010, the former bodybuilder was the star of such films as "The Terminator," "True Lies," "Kindergarten Cop" and "Twins.

Rev up the engine and hit the road with “ Drives of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Most Spectacular Trips,” a new coffee-table book from National Geographic ($40, hardcover) that explores highways and byways around the globe.  Some of the trips are long-distance odysseys on the far side of the planet, such as the Silk Road across the vastness of central Asia. Many are easy drives for Californians , such as the Gold Rush trail along the rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and California Highway 1 along the rugged coastline of the Big Sur region.

At the Sunday market in Kashgar, it isn't a wild stretch to imagine commerce as it might have been in the 13th century when Marco Polo passed through this Silk Road oasis: Smooth-faced boys wrangle with horses, sheep and camels. Mounds of melons and grapes are stacked on the bare wooden planks of mule-drawn carts. A wizened man wearing a skullcap sharpens knives on a lathe operated by foot pedals. But modernity is catching up with a vengeance, as the Chinese government yanks the nation's westernmost city, despite the misgivings of many residents, into the 21st century.

HIKING Workshop Follow @renelynch    rene.lynch@latimes.com Six-hour field class offers beginners tips on using maps and compasses. When, where: 9 a.m. Sunday at the REI store in Santa Monica, 402 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Admission, info: $60 members, $80 for non-members. (310) 458-4370, http://www.rei.com/class/162/market/162 SILK ROAD Presentation Yue Chi will show photos and discuss "Drive the Silk Road: From Istanbul to Beijing.

UZBEKISTAN AND TURKMENISTAN 'Cities of the Silk Road' A key highlight of Wild Frontiers' 16-day "Cities of the Silk Road" itinerary is seeing Darvaza, fondly called Turkmenistan's "Door to Hell," a 280-foot-wide crater that's been ablaze since 1971, when geologists ignited its natural gases. Besides that fiery spectacle, there's plenty else to take in between these two rarely visited Central Asia nations, with their many archaeological sites, culture and history aplenty, the world's largest carpet, the Oxus River, the moonscape of the Karakum Desert and Ashgabat's impressive architecture.

'Secrets of the Silk Road' Where: 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays. Through July 25. Price: $16 to $20 Contact: (714) 567-3600; www.bowers.org

A series of caravan trails linking Asia with Europe, the Silk Road, brought gunpowder, the compass, paper and printing to the West along with Chinese fabrics and porcelain. A sampling of dances from the varied cultures along this fabled trade route might make a fascinating fantasy journey.

The Taklimakan Desert in northern China is one of the largest in the world -- vast and inhospitable, and its howling winds were once thought the cries of ghosts and demons. Yet since ancient times, travelers have braved its edges, some engaging in the East-West trade that eventually earned the routes a fabled name, the Silk Road. This weekend, the Bowers Museum opens an exhibition featuring about 150 artifacts from the area, "Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies of China" (through July 25)

On display for the first time outside of Asia, Secrets of the Silk Road features more than 150 objects, including mummies and other archaeological items found buried in the parched sands of the Tarim Basin in the far Western Xinjiang Uygur region of China. Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Through July 25. Weekends adult $20, children $18; weekdays adult $18, children $16. (714) 567-3600. www.bowers.org.